Come and explore the incredible range of colours in the Wolfson gardens at this time of year, along with the many strongly scented winter-flowering shrubs, from shrubs with stems in shades of vivid red, yellow, gold, orange, white, purple, and black to the powerful scents from a range of shrubs (Viburnum, Sarcococca, wintersweet, daphne, witch-hazel), whose fragrance has evolved to be ‘super strong’ in order to attract the few hardy insects at work in the winter months.
The bark of many small trees is highly textural;, some smooth and shiny like a polished mahogany table (Prunus tibetica), others like a snake’s skin in shades of purple, pink and coral red (Acer davidii 'Sango-Kaku'). The paperbark maple (A. griseum) has peeling cinnamon coloured bark and the extremely rare A. 'Phoenix' has pink and orange bark, twigs and buds. It is truly spectacular and the only specimen in Cambridge.
The Wolfson Gardens also contain recent introductions to the plant world from China, Japan and New Zealand, many of which have wonderful evergreen foliage in shades of deep purple, banana yellow, scarlet red, red and pink, silver blue, blue and cream, silver and pink and many more combinations. Winter is never a dull place at Wolfson.
